Exercise X - Visual Sequential Processing or "Eyes out of Orbit"

According to the PTS II manual, Visual Sequential Processing develops the ability to identify and count a specific stimulus that is repeated in a sequence of different stimuli. Visual Sequential Processing requires Temporal Visual Processing, Perceptual Speed, Visual Attention, Visual Concentration and Saccadic Fixation.

You have to count the number of times a specified stimulus appears in sequence of stimuli. The target flashes inside of a box and then a series of letters, numbers or pictures will be flashed on the screen.

Variables:

There are four types of stimuli: Pictures(very difficult because they are somehow stylized and not very clear), Upper Case Letters, Lower Case Letters, Numbers
Stimuli Size: Medium and Large.
Speed of Stimuli: there are seven speeds ranging from slow to fast.
Number of Stimuli: it varies from 20 to 60 stimuli.
Stimuli Placement Patterns: there are six progressive placement patterns utilized.

The patterns could have a fixed or a random presentation.
In the fixed presentation, the stimuli will be presented in a fixed order and location. In the random presentation, the location of the stimuli in the sequence within a level will be randomized: it could show up on random places on the screen.
At this point, the speed is very fast. Hold on to your eye balls her or they go out of the orbit :o

It improves concentration, attention and saccadic fixation and speed. Good exercise for fast music.

Eye-Hand/Voice Span and Perceptual Span

Eye-Hand/Voice Span: measures how far ahead the eyes are from the hand/voice

Skilled readers Less skilled readers

4 notes 2 notes (Furneaux and Land)
about 2 beats under one beat (Truit at al.)
2 beats 0.5 beat (Rayner and Pollatsek)
1-2 notes 1-2 notes (Weaver) (more complex music)
4 beats (singers- Goolsby, 1994)
0 up to 2 notes (Jacobsen, 1941)


(I think it is more effective to measure EHS in beats because of the “chunking” abilities of the musicians-one beat can include several notes).

All researchers agree that the EHS of the musicians is small.
Truitt at al conclude that musicians do not need to see more then one measure ahead of the hands/voice in order to read well and readers rarely extract information beyond a measure (4 beats). However small, that does not mean that the visual process of the music is not ahead of the fixation (Weaver, 1943; Goolsby, 1994; Kinsler and Carpenter, 1995).
Rayner and Pollatsek state: “This discrepancy between the data and conventional wisdom might be due to the fact that musicians, like all human perceivers, are seduced by the illusion that information can be extracted from a wider region of vision than is actually possible”. (1997)


Perceptual Span: it measures the size of the visual field and our awareness of it. The perceptual span is the region around the fixation in which we obtain some information.

Both Truit at al and Rayner and Pollatsek (1997) found that, contrary to the musicians believes, the perceptual span is also small (the visual processing is also close to the hands). Its size is more or less one measure. That is > 2 < 4 notes ahead of the hands. Visual processing for musicians is also comparable to reading aloud (1.1 words for adults and less then half a word for a 1st grader-Garzia) and typing (about 6 characters-Rayner and Pollatsek).
(When researchers measure the EHS, they are taking the average and when they measure the perceptual span, they take the maximum).


Rayner and Pollatsek concluded that the less skilled reader when combining the EHS and the PS, extract useful information up to about 3 or 4 beats ahead of the hands. For skilled readers, the combination leads to only up to 5 beats ahead of the hands.

In the article Eye Movements in Reading: Facts and Fallacies by Stanford E. Taylor, he estates that “No studies to date have shown that training to widen span has resulted in the ability to see in phrases during continuous reading. Feinberg’s study (1949) suggested that the physiological limitations of the eye will probably present readers from ever reaching this goal “… when retinal impressions are superimposed on preceding ones at the rate of 3 to 5 per second in a dynamic act where the kinesthesia of the ocular activity and the sequence of impressions further reduce the already rather tenuous peripheral impressions. In addition, there is the demand for continually organizing the multiple ideas presented in reading material. Consequently, the span of recognition in reading is distinctly smaller than that occurring and measured in static seeing situations (Taylor, 1957) and maybe thought of as “salvageable” span”.

Exercise IX - Visual Concentration

Visual Concentration according to the PTS II Manual is the ability to remember the location of pairs of targets that are hidden on various sized grids. This exercise requires visual spatial memory, spatial visualization, visual-motor accuracy, and simultaneous processing.
This exercise also helps the musicians to develop working memory and problem solving.

This traditional grid memory game is played against the computer.

Variables:
- Grid Size - number of boxes in the grid. It varies from six to forty boxes.
- Skill level of the computer opponent – average or above average.
- Targets – there are five targets. Pictures, upper case letters, lower case letters, numbers and symbols.

Goal:
The goal in order to advance levels is winning or tying 70% of the time.

Short Term Memory and Working Memory

Working Memory is the ability to retain information in our short-term memory (in our "buffers") while simultaneously processing other material.
The ability to transform a complex input into mechanical results is directly related to this kind of memory. However, short-term memory is never addressed in music lessons. Teachers only focus on the long-term memory, which is the kind of memory used on performances.
During s-r, it is actually good to have a small Eye Hand Span and a small Perceptual Span* because if the input is to far from the mechanical output, we run the risk of loosing the material read. Psychologists say that the brain (buffers) only process 7 chunks at a time.
Our buffers also have the purpose of rearranging information and “solve problems” (i.e., fingering)

Take a look at a study by Simon and Chase, 1973 that discusses the buffers of chess players which are similar to the musicians’ buffers).

Working memory and Short Term Memory are vital skills needed for s-r and easily improved with exercises.
The PTS II addresses short term memory and working memory on the following exercises: "Visual Concentration", Visual Span" and the "Tachistoscope".
Both Visual Span and Tachistoscope use distractors. The purpose of the distractors is to retain one information while simultaneously processing other task.

*I will discuss this subject of small eye hand span and perceptual span on my next post.

Exercise VIII - Visual Closure + Auditory Closure*

"Visual Closure is the ability to identify incomplete targets" (PTS). According to the PTS II manual, visual closure requires form perception, figure-ground perception, speed of information processing and simultaneous processing.

My art professor used to say: “Do not add unnecessary details to your paintings. Leave some room for the audience imagine things”. He used examples of paints with hands missing one finger, for example, and admires would just see a “hand” because their brain would fill in the missing finger.

While sight-reading, we fill in chords, scales, rhythms, etc. Visual Closure is a big part of the musicians' chunking system.
There are ways to improve our visual closure outside of the instrument.
The exercise I have been doing from the PTS requires you “to identify incomplete targets as fast as possible. The target is presented on the screen in an increasing degree of completeness ranging from 1% to 100%.” (PTS).
I confess I struggled with this exercise at first. It wast frustrating because it seemed very easy.

While sight-reading, we also use our "auditory closure"* to complete phrases and even make corrections. Good sight-readers and text readers are both known for making automatic corrections.

According to Lehman and Erichsson (1996) our expectations are powerful. Such expectations along with our previous knowledge, are a big part of filling in the score.
I recommend you to read Wolf (1976),Fine et al.(2006) and Sloboda (1976) on this subject. Kinsler and Carpenter (1995) concluded that sight-reading twice reduces ocular movements only because the first time reading add expectations.
From my experience, atonal and modern music are much harder to sight-read because they do not fulfill my expectation. There are no familiar rhythmic, harmonic and melodic patterns. Professionals also state that playing chamber music is easier since they have a feedback form the other partners (Wolf).

In the book Vision and Reading by Ralph P. Garzia, he writes: "Both visual and auditory perceptual skills subserve learning to read in very important ways...
Visual analysis skills influence strongly how easily a child learns to identify the letters of the manuscript alphabet with consistent accuracy; auditory analysis skills, in turn, have a powerful effect on how readily the child recognizes the letter-sound relationships that govern decoding."

Make sure you know your theory and do your ear training.

* I made up this term to represent our auditory expectations

Vision And Music Making by Frank Kowalsky

Paul Harris, an optometrist and well trained musician sent me the article Vision and Music Making. A real gift.
In this article, Kowalsky writes about how he has learned that improving vision skills helps music learning, comprehension and reading speed.
He mentions two trainable skills, I have mentioned earlier, the tachistoscopic ability and the peripheral vision.
The tachistoschopic exercises I worked on with PTS II program (see post 02-07-2010)were the ones I needed more sections to finish. There is no way to train this skill as traditionally done by musicians (at their instruments).
My performance doing the parafoveal exercises, however, was very good. Which leads me to conclude that I have a good peripheral vision. The fact that I have a good peripheral vision does not imply that I am using it correctly or using it at all.
Kowalsky states: "Peripheral vision (sometimes referred to as
peripheral awareness) is another important concept that I had to redefine for myself. It implies more than merely seeing off to the sides; rather, it is an awareness of the entire background – the space to the sides, the top, the bottom, and the depth of field. Peripheral vision is a consciousness of everything that is not the object specifically being attended to".
After reading this, I went for for a car ride and I decided to check my "peripheral awareness". There was none! I was appalled. I then, started being aware of it, which by the way is very easy to do and I could not wait to try the same thing on the piano. Although I and other musicians know the usual rules: count, look ahead, don't correct, bla, bla, bla... It was not enough. I was using the "tunnel vision" Kowalsky describes while driving and while playing.
I went home, put two objects on both sides of my piano and I started sight-reading while aware of those objects left and right and also aware of a closet right in front of me.
How easy! I can hardly describe to you my surprise. As I became aware of my sides and top, my whole score was available to me. My perceptual span tripled and so did my tempo. This is the "tip" I was looking for. I knew my difficulties sight-reading had do be related to my eyes since I am a well trained musician and I do not lack practice.
OVERNIGHT MY SIGHT-READING IMPROVED A LOT. I have been misusing my visual abilities all my life.
I am impressed how sensitive Kowalsky is to be able to put this "perceptual puzzle" into meaningful words and how he was aware of it when millions of good sight-readers can't describe how they do it.
I will keep researching vision and music with Dr J. I am open to more ideas that will make me even better and help other musicians. Who knows, I might have other bad habits that I can fix.
I might be like these obsessive people that collect things compulsively and are never satisfied.

Exercise VII - Visual Span

Visual Span is the size of the effective visual field and it is also the ability to remember and repeat a series of visual stimuli. This sounds very familiar for musicians. While sight-reading, we exercise this ability all the time. We see sequences on our visual field, we organize them, remember and reproduce them on the instrument.

According to the PTS II manual, this exercise requires "Visual Sequential Memory, Working Memory, Perceptual Speed, Visual Motor Accuracy and Sequential Processing" and this exercise is recommended for "individuals with memory problems, reading decoding problems, early grade arithmetic difficulty and visual magnocellular deficits".

Here, a sequence flashes on the screen one character at a time. You are suppose to remember the sequence and then type it (play it) on the computer keyboard.

Variables:

- Stimuli length: character numbers in the sequence range form 2 to 6.
- Stimuli size: medium and large.
- Stimuli type: numbers, upper case letters, lower Case letters, codes, (combination of letters and numbers).
- Delay: in some levels, you must withhold the answer while a moving distraction (bird, balloon, fish) appears on the screen. The purpose of the delay variable is to develop working memory*.

- Goals: 70% or greater, correct trials.

I recommend you to read:
The Perceptual Span and the Eye-Hand Span in Sight Reading Music**
Frances E. Truitt; Charles Clifton Jr; Alexander Pollatsek; Keith Rayner
Visual Cognition, 1464-0716, Volume 4, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 143 – 161


* Working memory is a process that involves remembering one stimulus while performing another task. This is extremely important when sight-reading.
** I will write a review about this article in the future.